One of the key moments in Revenge / Justice, the second episode of The Acolyte, was Master Torbin and his hovering cross-legged meditation in the Jedi temple on Olega. There he was offered liquid ‘absolution’ by Mae Aniseya, but his method of meditation was a Jedi technique that has previously been detailed in the canon era in issue 2 of Charles Soule’s run on Darth Vader, a skill called the Barash Vow. Writing over at StarWars.com, Amy Richau delves into the history of the vow and why it was such an integral element of that second episode.
The Barash Vow was first introduced in the Marvel comic Darth Vader (2017) #2. In the series penned by Soule and set shortly after Order 66, Vader searches a Jedi Archive for the locations of Jedi who took the vow prior to the purge. On the hunt for a kyber crystal from a Jedi he defeated in combat, Vader sees Barash Vow takers as easy prey, as they would be forbidden to use the Force to defend themselves. Vader’s search leads him to the Jedi Master Kirak Infil’a, a warrior now meditating on the river moon Al’doleem. After Vader’s arrival, Infil’a declares his vow complete as the Force has finally revealed a clear path for him to follow: to kill the man who slaughtered his brothers and sisters in the Order.
A brief moment of reflection for some, the Barash Vow could mean years or decades of solitary meditation for others. While many Jedi were able to find clarity with the Force after a time and return to being an active member of the Order with a clear path in front of them, the events that led other Jedi to take the vow would prove too great to surmount.
